John Kiel Patterson, a Louisiana man too stupid to turn the volume down, is suing Apple, claiming that the iPod can cause hearing loss for those who use it. The suit, which Patterson wants certified as a class-action, seeks compensation for unspecified damages and upgrades that will make iPods safer
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency in its massive program to wiretap and data-mine Americans’ communications — via digg
An FCC mandate will require that all hardware and software have a wiretap backdoor that allows the government to tap into all your communications — via digg
A librarian at Brandeis University forced the FBI to obtain a warrant to seize computers used to send threats. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents tried to seize 30 of the library’s computers without a warrant, saying someone had used the library’s Internet connection to send the threat to Brandeis. But the library director, Kathy Glick-Weil, told the agents they could not take the machines unless they got a warrant first. Newton’s mayor, David Cohen, backed Ms Glick-Weil up. After a brief standoff, FBI officials relented and sought a warrant from a judge
Five current and former National Security Agency employees have said that the agency frequently retaliates against whistleblowers by falsely labeling them delusional
, paranoid
or psychotic
The Russian justice ministry has asked a court to shut down the Russian Human Rights Research Centre, one of the country’s oldest human rights group — via Boing Boing
James Hansen, longtime director of the agency’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the top climate scientist at NASA, says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming — via digg
Canada’s biggest record label, publisher and management company is helping out a family sued by the RIAA for copyright infringement. The privately-owned Nettwerk Music Group is intervening because the current actions of the RIAA are not in their artists’ best interests
Google’s new China search engine not only censors many web sites that question the Chinese government, but it goes further than similar services from Microsoft and Yahoo by targeting teen pregnancy, homosexuality, dating, beer and jokes. In addition, contrary to Google founder Sergey Brin’s promise to inform users when their search results are censored, the company frequently filters out sites without revealing it
The ACLU has received complaints from six organisations and nearly two dozen people who fear they have been spied upon, photographed, videotaped or had their events infiltrated by government agents. They say none of them did anything that would justify surveillance but rather are critics of the Bush administration — via digg
The collision was inevitable. Google has vowed to provide unbiased, accurate, and free access to information
to people around the world, while touting a corporate motto of don’t be evil
. And China, which controls information with an iron grip, has blossomed into the world’s second-biggest and fastest-growing Internet market. For those wondering what would happen when the irresistible force of Google and its altruistic motives finally met up with the immovable object of China, with its lure of higher profit, the answer came when Google unveiled its first search service inside China. Its concession: Google will play by government rules and censor results of sensitive queries, such as Falun Gong
or multiparty elections
. There’s already a workaround
A group called the Metamorphosis Foundation reports that 126 nongovernmental organisations in Macedonia have signed an open letter to that country’s president and parliament demanding prompt adoption of the Law on Free Access to Information
— via Boing Boing
A group of Papuans who arrived on Queensland’s Cape York yesterday have accused the Indonesian Government of genocide. The group of 30 Papuan men, six women and seven children displayed a banner on their 25-metre canoe, asking for help to save West Papua
British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s plan to introduce national identity cards has suffered a setback, with the House of Lords voting to force the government to provide more details on the cost of the controversial scheme
Security experts and privacy advocates unanimously agree that ID cards will not protect Australia from terrorist attacks, despite Attorney-General Philip Ruddock saying the key reason
for an Australian ID card would be national security
Idaho Department of Fish and Game intends to kill up to 75% of the wolves in the Lolo elk zone to bolster struggling elk herds there, pending approval from the Idaho Fish and Game commission and the US Fish and Wildlife Service — via TidePool
The 8000-tonne japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru broke away from a supply ship it had loaded with whale meat and steered a deliberate collision course towards the 949-tonne Arctic Sunrise, the smaller of two Greenpeace ships chasing the whaling fleet. The Japanese are claiming they were rammed, but this wouldn’t be the first time they’ve lied about ramming Greenpeace vessels
From the beginning to the end of his career, Ariel Sharon was a man of ruthless and often gratuitous violence. The waypoints of his career are all drenched in blood, from the massacre he directed at the village of Qibya in 1953
Microsoft has admitted to removing the blog of a Chinese journalist from MSN Spaces. The censored site has been re-hosted elsewhere after a short down-time, but is no longer accessible to the folks in China
A boy in Canton, Ohio puts up a web page telling his friends to go to their school web site and hit refresh. Now the local prosecutor wants to charge him with a felony and threatens him with jail time, although prosecutors say community service is more likely and disciplinary action from the school — via Boing Boing
RSS – Posts